Revelation
by leiasky
Summary: FAM Zorro. What would have happened if Zorro had removed his mask the day he asked Victoria to marry him? This is my version of what might have happened if Zorro had revealed his identity in the episode An Affair to Remember. - COMPLETE-
1. Default Chapter

Title: Revelation

Author: Leiasky

Rating: PG

Summary: What would have happened if Zorro had removed his mask the day he asked Victoria to marry him?

Author's Notes: This story originally appeared on my web site but it has since been re-written. This is the finished piece. This is my version of what might have happened if Zorro had revealed his identity in the episode _An Affair to Remember_.

**Revelation**

_"Don't I have the right to know the man behind the mask?" She asked._

_"The man behind this mask is afraid of only one thing in this world. " Zorro moved to the mirror. Staring at himself through the mask. Uncertainty stirred in his heart. He stared at the man he had become and turned to her, trying to make her understand his true fear. "That you love a man with whom he cannot possibly compete." He held his hands out towards her uncertainly. " That if this mask was removed you would still be in love with Zorro and not with the man of flesh and blood." He knelt before her. Looking, searching for one more reason, the one last incentive to do what he had dreamed of doing for five years._

_Their romantic dinner, their heartwarming conversation throughout the evening only hastened his decision to tell her. It couldn't be a more perfect time to reveal his identity to the woman he loved most in this world._

_"I've never known this man of flesh and blood." Victoria shook her head. She had to make him clearly understand that his fears were unfounded. " But I do know this." She took his hands with her own and squeezed them reassuringly. "The courage and the passion that lives in Zorro's heart also lives in his. Share your secret with me." She pleaded. _

_"Very well, Victoria." He breathed , his heart beating rapidly. "You shall know."_

Victoria held her breath as he lowered his head and slid his hands to the tie of the mask that had kept them apart for so long. The silence in the room was nerve wracking. The only noise that could be heard in the darkened room was the sound of their hearts pounding against their chests and the swish of material as he slowly untied the satin mask.

Victoria pressed a hand to her breast to still the pounding of her heart as the mask slid slowly away from his face.

She blinked. Once. Twice; as recognition thrust its way into her mind, and into her heart. Her heart lurched into her stomach and she swayed where she sat, her hands folded so tightly together they'd begun to turn white. She blinked again, uncertain at the image that was standing before her. She shook her head.

He clutched the mask in trembling hands. His heart was pounding as he watched expressions of disbelief and shock play across her beautiful features.

Her mouth moved but no words came out as she shook her head again, her eyes struggling to take in his remarkable revelation.

When she found her voice, the only words that came out were a strangled squeak. "It can't be."

He struggled to voice a response. His mind couldn't focus on anything beyond the beating of his own heart as he watched the woman he loved begin to cope with the true identity of her masked hero.

She shook her head slowly. Her eyes began to glisten with tears and he reached a trembling hand up to wipe them away.

"Why?" Her voice was still a whisper. "How? I don't understand." Her voice trailed away into nothing and he shook his head, his eyes as tender and comforting as they had always been.

Today, she did not take any comfort in that tender, loving gaze. As the shock began to wear off, it was replaced by another, seemingly stronger emption. Anger. Hurt and betrayal flashed through her eyes as she stared at him. She couldn't remember when she had last been so furious – with anyone.

As he opened his mouth to speak, she jerked her head away from him. His hand, where he had been wiping away her tears, fell away. She pushed angrily against his chest, nearly knocking him over from where he knelt beside her. She was shaking with rage and she looked around the cave for some hint that this could really be happening. It had to be a dream. The man she loved most in this world could not be her childhood friend. She would have known. The enraged woman tried to stand but the pain in her ankle was too great and she sunk into the chair once again.

"You must have just loved this little deception!" She seethed, remembering all of the little tricks Diego and her brothers used to play on her when they were children. The humiliation came rushing back in a wave that threatened to suck the breath right out of her lungs. " Did you take great pleasure in playing this little game with my heart!" The only outlet she had for her rage was to curl her hands into little balls and pound them against his solid chest.

Tears slipped down her cheeks when he no longer had the courage to try to wipe them away. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, struggling in vain to still the heart that threatened to beat through his chest. The one thing that he had feared would happen in revealing his identity was unfolding at breakneck speed before his very eyes and there was nothing, no words, he could say to stop it. For the first time in a very many years, he was at a loss for words. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to take away his pain and her feelings of being used. Her scathing words cut him like tiny daggers and the verbal backlash was staggering.

Realization flickered in his sad eyes and he did the only thing that he could think of to still her rage. He grasped her hands gently, but held them tight enough so that she could not pull them free. "Release me, you-"

He leaned in and very gently, very sweetly, kissed her trembling lips. Almost immediately, she ceased her struggling, simply allowing him to bestow something nearly as rare as the water in the arid California desert. After a few probing moments, her lips flowered beneath his and desire flooded through her body. Whoever this man behind the mask was, she loved him. And, it appeared, she'd loved him for a very long time. Far before he had donned the mask of the now famous outlaw.

This was the man whose lips she had tasted few times before. Their time together was so short; Always too short. It left her longing, desiring, wanting desperately to know the man behind the mask. And now she did. Memories raced through her mind and she desperately, one last time, tried to formulate a reason in her mind that this could be some cruel joke. But it wasn't. Even down to the time she and Diego had been forced to seek shelter from the rain in an old abandoned windmill – she knew he loved her. She'd just denied it. _"And only your cool sweet lips will quench my burning desire."_ Diego had finished a verse out of a book her mother used to read when she was a child. Victoria trembled in his black-clad arms, remembering what Zorro had said to her later that day. _"Your smile is almost enough to quench my burning desire." _She'd wondered then, but only for a fleeting instant.

His earlier words slammed into her mind like a tsunami rushing up the ocean's shoreline,_ "That if this mask was removed you would still be in love with Zorro and not with the man of flesh and blood." _Did she now think this way? Her heart pounded in her chest and she pushed the thought into the back of her mind, struggling to come to some kind of calm understanding about this revelation.

He released her hands and wrapped his own around her head to pull her closer, deepening the kiss.

A small sound escaped her throat at the gesture and she melted into his arms. His familiar scent overwhelmed her, the gentle caress of his lips covering hers. She wrapped her slim fingers around his forearms as his lips moved so gently over hers – just like they had done before.

A small bell began to chime and for a moment it was ignored until Diego realized that it was the warning bell outside the cave. He pulled away quickly and shot a quick glance toward the cave entrance. Tornado was snorting and digging his hoof into the ground, sensing the coming danger. Diego noticed that that a steady stream of light was shining where it had been darkness moments before.

"The alarm." He turned back to her a worried look in his eyes. "The warning bell. Someone is at the cave entrance."

Victoria's eyes narrowed as Diego lifted her easily into his arms and raced up the steps leading to the entrance to the hacienda.

Victoria looked around the small room as he set her on her feet. This was where he had come from and left by earlier in the evening but there was no visible entrance. Her eyes were glued to his face as the reality of his position and identity seeped into her senses.

"Can you stand?" He asked quickly.

"If I have to." Victoria breathed, balancing her weight on her good foot. What was he doing? This small room was not concealed well enough to keep those bandits from finding them.

She watched as he replaced the mask with practiced precision and took her hand. He placed it on the lever that would open the secret door and whispered. " If I do not come back, pull this and a door will open behind you. Go through it and find Felipe . Tell him what has happened."

"What?" She shook her head. None of this was making sense. A secret door? Tell Felipe? If he didn't come back? "No." She whispered, grasping his hand as he turned away. " Don't go. I don't understand..."

He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it, sending another flood of reality seeping into her heart. The words he had thought long and hard over in the past, had such difficulty voicing as his true identity, slipped from his lips as if he had been saying them all his life. " I love you, Victoria. Please never doubt that."

He turned and sprinted down the stairs leaving her standing there alone, her jumbled emotions threatening to drive her mad. She took a closer look around the room and realized that there must be an entrance to the hacienda hidden here. She was about to investigate a little closer when she heard the clash of swords at the bottom of the stairs.

Her heart skipped a few beats as she listened to the commotion mere feet away. She sobbed back a few tears and pressed herself as far away from the steps as she could.

She could hear the bandits yelling and the sounds of glass as it shattered. All of the experiments on the tables impacted with the stone floor and she shuddered at the thought of what the cave would look like when all was done.

She had no fear that Zorro could handle the banditos. But, Diego? Could Diego take care of them as well as...? She shook her head. Wait a minute! What was she thinking? Diego _was_ Zorro and he could do anything.

After a few minutes, when she heard no sounds from the cave, she pulled herself away, slid along the side of the wall and peered carefully around the corner.

Unconscious bodies lay strewn around the room as her eyes came to rest on the masked man who had the last bandito pressed against the wall.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed movement on the floor. As she turned her head to get a better look, she noticed a bandito quickly and quietly rising from the floor.

As Victoria shouted a warning, the bandito picked up his fallen sword and thrust it into the masked man's back.

"No!" Victoria screamed as Zorro released the man he had been holding and landed a right hook squarely against the man's jaw, dropping him to the ground unconscious. He grasped his injured side with a muffled groan and whirled around with what strength he had left and thrust his blade into the shocked bandito's chest. Zorro stumbled and sank to the floor, dropping the sword so that he could grasp the wall and slow his descent.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Victoria leapt off the top of the steps, concern for her sprained ankle momentarily forgotten, and wrapped her arms around Zorro's waist, helping him slide to the floor.

"Go, get...Felipe." Zorro whispered through gritted teeth, pressing his hand tightly against his wound to slow the bleeding.

"But..." Victoria shook her head, eyes searching his face.

"Quickly!" He implored. His voice cracked with pain and his breathing hitched. "Need to get them out..." He indicated the unconscious banditos.

"I'm more worried about you at the moment." She tried to search for the source of his wound but he grunted and pushed her trembling hands away.

She stood, tears beginning to form in her eyes again, and launched herself toward where she thought the secret entrance was. As she pulled the lever, she was startled to see a small door open. She stepped through it quickly and began calling for Felipe and Alejandro.

As Felipe rounded the corner, and Alejandro came in from the outside, Victoria noticed that she was covered in blood.

Felipe's eyes widened and Alejandro rushed over to her and tried to push her into a seat, concern for the young señorita etched across his face.

"Victoria? What happened?" Alejandro couldn't remember Victoria being at the hacienda. Maybe she had come with Diego.

"Zorro!" She breathed and pointed toward the fireplace she had just come from.

Felipe's eyes widened.

"He's hurt! Please!" She breathed, trying to push Alejandro's hands away from her. "Banditos."

"Where!" Alejandro looked around. He had just come from outside and there was no one out of the ordinary there.

She shot a look at Felipe. "You know, don't you? Please, you have to help him!" She got to her feet, grimacing in pain as she quickly shifted her weight to her uninjured ankle. Once she reached the fireplace, she turned to send a pleading look at Felipe. She didn't know how to open the secret door from this side.

Alejandro could not help but think the woman had gone mad. If she was not hurt from all that blood loss, then maybe some invisible injury was making her delusional.

As if sensing Alejandro's question, she shouted." It's not my blood! It's D-Zorro's!"

Felipe silently gasped and trusted that the woman who held Diego's heart would not lie about something so important. He quickly reached past her and pressed the hidden lever. The door opened and Victoria rushed through, Felipe following immediately.

Alejandro stood staring at the old fireplace for a moment blinking before following them. How could he have not known about a secret passageway in his own home?

Felipe's eyes quickly scanned the cave until they came to rest on his friend as he lay against a far wall.

"Felipe." Zorro grunted weakly, pushing his friend away with what little strength he had left. " You have to get them out of here."

Felipe looked around at the banditos lying around the floor and his breath caught in his throat. Victoria limped over to where Zorro lay and slid down, her ankle unable to support her weight any longer. She wrapped her arms around his neck and brought his head to rest against her chest.

Zorro took a deep, labored breath. His strength and consciousness were rapidly failing but he needed to make sure his family was safe. He needed to give a few final instructions.

Felipe nodded and implored Alejandro to help with the banditos. The older de la Vega's eyes widened when he noticed Zorro lying in Victoria's arms but he rushed to help Felipe with the men the masked man had rendered unconscious. He'd think about the implications of Zorro's lair being hidden within a secret room in his very own hacienda later.

They all turned at the sound of a snort as Tornado, sensing the danger, pulled at his halter.

"This man is dead." Alejandro commented as he turned the man, who had wounded Zorro, over onto his back.

Felipe signed that the man whom he tried to move was dead as well. He had a large gash to his head. He had apparently struck it hard when he fell.

"Felipe." Alejandro called, glancing at the black stallion that snorted angrily in their direction. "Lets lift these banditos onto his back and see if we can get him to carry them away."

Felipe nodded and blindfolded two of the banditos as the two men lifted them onto the stallions back. Tornado snorted angrily but allowed two unconscious men to be laid across his back anyway. He knew his master needed his help. He could sense it. The stallion carried the unconscious men a good distance away and when he returned, Alejandro watched in silent awe as Felipe carefully masked any tracks leading back to the area. The old Don stared as Felipe pressed a hidden board buried in the ground and the cave entrance swung open.

He stumbled after his young servant, emotions and disconcerting facts beginning to congeal in his mind. So wrapped up in his own confusion, Alejandro almost ran over Victoria, who was returning from the kitchen with towels and a basin of water.

"No, we must get him into bed." Alejandro implored. "We can better tend his wound there."

Victoria nodded wordlessly, and Alejandro's heart broke when he noticed the redness surrounding her eyes and the tear-stains that marred a path down her smooth cheeks.

Mercifully, Zorro was nearly unconscious as they struggled to move his large form through the small secret entrance. He gritted his teeth in pain but it was so excruciating that most of his body had become numb.

Once they reached Diego's bedroom, the masked man's form sunk deeply into the mattress and Victoria quickly arranged the pillows around him to support the weakening body.

Alejandro watched the young woman toss propriety out the window and begin to unfasten Zorro's blood soaked shirt. He stepped to the other side of the bed and waited for the young woman to give him instructions. Two chiefs in this situation would do more harm than good and Alejandro was not about the situate himself between the injured Fox and his lady love.

Victoria shivered when she noticed that the wound was still oozing blood. Zorro had lost a lot of blood already and she was worried as she gazed at the unconscious man's pale face.

"Felipe." The young woman turned to the frightened boy standing at the foot of the bed. " Please go get Dr. Hernandez. Quickly! I don't know what I can do for an injury like this."

Felipe hesitated for a minute but the frightened look in Victoria's eyes hastened his steps.

Victoria shot one quick look at Alejandro before she reached for the mask. She gave no explanation as she removed the sweat soaked silk from Zorro's face.

Alejandro's eyes widened at her bold act. He didn't believe Zorro would appreciate being unmasked while being so gravely injured. He didn't know what had happened or how Victoria had come to be involved in today's activities. Or, for that matter, how Zorro's hideout happened to be inside his very own hacienda! He had as of yet not had any time to think of applicable reasons. The thought never even crossed his mind that it would be his own son that lay beneath the mask until Victoria pulled it from his face.

"Díos." Alejandro sunk into a nearby chair, his mind reeling at the sight before him. He stared for what seemed like hours, at the pale face of his unconscious son before pulling the chair close to the bed and gripping the cold, clammy hand. Victoria moistened a cloth and gave it to Alejandro, indicating that he should keep Diego's forehead as cool as possible.

Victoria cleaned and covered the wound as best she could while Alejandro muttered words of comfort and love in his son's ear. When she tried to completely the blood stained shirt she found she did not have nearly enough strength to do so. She could not remove it on her own and Alejandro stood quickly and lifted his son 's shoulders so that she could pull the soaked shirt from beneath him.

Victoria dropped it onto the floor and pulled the blanket to up to Diego's neck. She felt his forehead and sighed deeply as the heat seeped into her skin.

Her task complete, she sunk into a nearby chair and pulled it to the bedside so that she could hold his hand. Her ankle was throbbing and she blinked back the tears as they threatened to spill down her cheeks. She had cleaned and bandaged the wound but she was unsure as to how deep it was. The doctor would know better what chance Diego had of surviving. The wound had bleed profusely and there were blood stains everywhere. Her shoulders shook as she sobbed and Alejandro rushed around the bed and pulled her tightly against him.

"I don't know how I couldn't have known." She sobbed into his chest, shaking her head.

Alejandro pulled a kerchief out of his jacket and held it out to the sobbing woman. "Dry your tears, my child."

Now that she had time to think back to what had happened just before he was injured, the young woman was immediately disgusted with herself. He carefully masked the pain her reaction to his revelation had caused. She swallowed deeply, suddenly sick to her stomach. How could she have treated him that way? Didn't she realize that while she was separated from him by his secret, he was also separated from her? He had to hide his feelings from her every day he did not wear that mask.

Everything came slamming into her mind with a clarity she could only wish she had had earlier in the cave. She pulled away from Alejandro and laid her head on the pillow next to Diego's. Her hand slowly brushed across his neck as she leaned in to brush a light kiss against a burning cheek.

"If he dies, I will never forgive myself." Victoria whispered.

She stared at Diego's closed eyes and brushed her hand against his hair, forehead, the dark eyelashes, nose, mustache and finally turned her head to press a kiss to his parted lips. Her tears dripped onto his face, the salty drops cooling his fevered skin.

Alejandro had never felt so helpless.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Days passed and Diego did not awake. Doctor Hernandez had stayed the night with the de la Vega family. He'd wanted to keep a close eye on his patient. A guest room was prepared but the man hadn't used it. Diego's fever raged and the doctor did everything possible to make his patient comfortable. While he was still alive, his fever raged and he was deathly pale from loss of blood.

The doctor hadn't inquired as to the reason for Diego's injury. The man had sustained unusual injuries before and there had always been a reasonable, if yet oddly unbelievable, explanation. The man knew Alejandro, or even Victoria, would tell him what happened when they were good and ready.

The doctor's mind turned to the young Señorita who sat across from him, holding Diego's hand with such reverence it could have been Zorro lying there rather than bookish caballero. She had strangely refused to leave the sick room and she looked as if she had one foot in the grave herself. Her hair was tangled and matted, her eyes red and her skin nearly as pale as the young Don's. If the doctor hadn't been so concerned for Diego's health, he may have put all of the signs together more quickly.

In those few days, Victoria explained to Alejandro and Felipe, while the doctor was making his rounds in the pueblo, what had happened and how the events that had led to Diego's injury came to be.

To keep themselves occupied, one kept a constant vigil at Diego's bedside and the others would sneak into the secret cave and clean it, keep Tornado company, or read one of the many journals that young Don had kept of his adventures.

_He was floating on waves of blackness that threatened to drown him. He couldn't see clearly, He couldn't hear anything but the roaring of the black waves crashing against an invisible wall . He couldn't remember exactly what had happened and he didn't know where he was._

_All he had was a feeling of rejection and utter depression_. _As he searched the depths of his memories, it became clear why he felt the way he did. Victoria's disgust with learning who the real man behind her hero's mask was more painful than a dozen knives in the back. _

_He re-played the scene over and over in his mind becoming more disheartened after each re-play. If there was no goal to strive for in his identity as Zorro, if there was nothing waiting for him at the other end of the hard road, It wasn't worth the struggle._

_The knife twisted and churned in his heart until he cried out from the pain. It was not an audible cry but a cry from the heart and soul of a man who had given everything to help his people in hopes that one day he would be able to live the life he had always dreamed with the woman he loved._

_Now even that reality was sinking into the blackness that enveloped his mind and body._

_He could find nothing in his memories to live for. There was nothing important about his life any longer._

_As he felt himself sink closer and closer to the blackness of death, he could see a light at the end of the dark tunnel that was his mind._

_He could see a beautiful woman, enveloped in blinding light, her long, dark hair cascading over her shoulders and down her back like waves in a tempest-tossed sea._

_He reached his hand out to grasp her, but fell short. He strained to see her face, but the light was too bright. He could hear her a strangely familiar voice. It whispered to him, like a lovers caress, in his mind. He was soothed by its warmth, by it's tenderness._

_'It is not your time. Go back to her. She needs you.'_

_'She doesn't want me!' He cried. "She wants her masked hero! Not the man of flesh and blood!" He envisioned being rejected by a woman he didn't even know, but felt that he should. He didn't know how much more pain his heart could take. _

_'She does. Give her a chance.' The voice became faint as the wind whipped around her, drowning out her voice._

_'Please!' He called. He felt strangely attached to this woman. As if loosing sight of her would yield the final death blow. ' Don't go! Who are you? Where am I? What is happening?' Clear, crystal blue eyes stared at him from the near blinding light and his breath caught. A slim hand reached toward him from within that light and he saw the jeweled ring sparkling on her finger. His mother's ring. The ring he had hoped to one day present to Victoria the day he asked her to become his wife. Diego's eyes narrowed._

_'You have to choose. Love…or eternal hopelessness – never knowing what could have been.' The voice was barely audible now as the light faded from view and she was gone. His breath caught. He could no longer see her but he could feel the resonance of energy she had left behind. Energy that he only need grasp and it would give him the strength to return home. _

Victoria walked into Diego's bedroom, carrying a tray of soup to feed the still unconscious caballero. As she glanced at the bed, expecting to see closed eyes and steady breathing, she nearly dropped the tray when she noticed the man watching her through heavily lidded crystal blue eyes.

"Diego!" She cried, the excitement almost too much for her to contain. The tray she carried was deposited quickly on a nearby table as she launched herself onto the bed beside him and brushed away a lock of dark hair that had fallen into his eyes. She bent and pressed a kiss to his forehead and rested her lips there, as if silently thanking god that he had finally awoken.

"Victoria?" He blinked, trying to focus. He was uncertain where he was or what had happened. All he could remember was a strange dream and a woman imploring him to go back. Go back to what? The excruciating pain of rejection sill resonated through his heart.

"Yes." She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, embracing him tightly. "We were all so worried about you. Your fever wouldn't break no matter what the doctor did."

"All I can remember is..." His eyes began to focus on her excited features. He lowered his gaze when he remembered her reaction to him when he had removed the mask.

She understood his unsaid words and took his head in her hands and pressed a gentle, shy kiss to his parted lips.

Diego's eyes widened, paralyzed from the intimate gesture which prevented him from returning the gentle kiss.

"Diego, I am so sorry." Victoria's eyes pleaded with him to forgive her. "I never even thought that my masked hero and my childhood friend were one and the same." She twined her fingers through his hair. "I've had days to think about how empty my life would be without you. Can you forgive me?"

Diego's breath caught in his throat. This couldn't be happening. "I can forgive you anything - Bella."

A lone tear escaped her eye and he reached forward to wipe it away, wincing at the movement. He opened his arms and she crawled into them, careful to avoid his injured side. She pressed herself against his body and simply let him hold her.

Alejandro and Felipe found them, several hours later, wrapped in one another's arms, sleeping away the day in a contented slumber.

A few evenings later, Diego was sitting outside staring out into the open valley of stone-capped hills and man-sized tumbleweeds. The de la Vega land encompassed thousands of acres as far as the eye could see. He could sense someone approaching and smiled widely. When a soft blanket surrounded his shoulders, he reached up and caught her hands in his, bringing them around his neck and to his lips.

He could feel her hot breath in his ear as he caressed her fingers. Her presence warmed him like nothing else ever could.

She pulled her hands out of his gentle grasp and began to rub the tension from his back and neck. The intimate gestures were going to take some getting used to, but they hastened his recovery ten fold.

"You know if you keep doing that, we are going to be faced with a new – dilemma." There was a twinkle in his eyes that she could not see and when she did not immediately respond, he regretted saying something so bold.

"And what might that be?" She moved around the large cushioned chair and smiled down at him. He pulled the large blanket tighter around his shoulders and across his lap so that she couldn't see just exactly what all of these newfound intimate gestures had been doing to his still healing body.

Normally he could control himself and his body's reaction to her close proximity. Years of restraint had made it fairly easy to do. But the knowledge and her acceptance of his secret shattered that well-practiced ability into tiny fragmented pieces.

He quickly steered their conversation to one a bit more appropriate. "What shallwe to do? No one knows Zorro's identity but you and my father. Although, I think Dr. Hernandez has been able to guess by all the secrecy surrounding this hacienda in the last week . I..."

She leaned forward to slide her fingers through his thick, dark hair and he sighed, any further prepared comments soaring straight out of his mind. He didn't know if she just didn't want to talk about the important decisions that would have to be made regarding their relationship or if she just wanted to tease him tonight. Little did she know, every waking moment he could not touch or caress her was torture of the worst kind.

He took her hands and held them tenderly, his eyes pleading with her to stop. "We need to decide how we are going to proceed with..."

She slipped her hands from his, wrapped her fingers around his neck and pulled his face to hers for a deep, searching kiss.

Again words failed him, for the moment, and held her tightly, and simply enjoyed their closeness. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was careful not to turn in a way his injury would object.

"Victoria..." He murmured.

"I'm afraid that we will come to a decision that neither of us will like." She admitted as she moved to sit beside him on the spacious chair. She leaned back into his arms as they snaked around her shoulders.

This motion gave him a very pleasant view right down the front of her blouse and he couldn't keep his eyes from gravitating to the delicious sight.

When he didn't answer, she shot a glance over her shoulder and chuckled, causing him to look away embarrassed. She reached up and caressed his cheek, sliding her fingers across his lips.

"I think maybe we can come up with a solution that will be – mutually beneficial for all concerned." He smiled slightly, hoping she would be willing to go along with whatever ruse they could contrive.

"Zorro is a very public figure." Diego admitted with a sigh. "But Diego," He smiled and turned her so that he could look at her beautiful face, into her deep ebony eyes, " Is a very private man and has a very private life."

He reached for her and as his hands slid along her neck to caress the soft skin there, she sighed. He rubbed her neck lightly and leaned forward, slowly closing the distance between them. As she opened her lips expectantly, he diverted his head and found the sensitive spot on her neck that instantly caused her toes to curl.

She closed her eyes and shivered, her hands sliding behind his head to play with the strands of dark hair that fell over his collar.

As his lips kissed and caressed the soft skin, she barely heard him whisper." I think we can keep our relationship private for the time being."

"Yes," She breathed, trembling, and not from the cool breeze. "I think I shall resign myself to the fact that Zorro is just not the marrying type.

"Settle for the boring, bookish, Diego?" he asked quietly as his lips began to move slowly up her neck.

"Oh, I think I've discovered a facet of his personality that I hadn't noticed before. A very – attractive facet." Her hands tugged at his hair and she pulled away to look into his eyes. She traced a solitary finger down his jaw and across his lips. "And I don't think I could love you any more than I do right at this moment."

"I love you too, Querrida. More than life itself."

FINISHED


End file.
